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Archives Spring 2002

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Scholars for Tomorrow

The Graduate School is proud to introduce its newest interdisciplinary fellowship program: Scholars for Tomorrow. Now finishing its inaugural year, the program gives graduate students a yearlong opportunity to explore creative new concepts in learning, along with cutting-edge research and discovery. During monthly gatherings, scholars from across disciplines discuss and investigate how their own fields of study relate to an overriding theme. This year, two groups of students were selected to explore aesthetics in society or computational sciences. Next year, students will focus on international studies or ethics, health and public policy as well. Themes will vary from year to year, as a primary goal of the program is to respond to current societal interests.

So, what makes someone a Scholar for Tomorrow? He might be an artist concerned about the environment or a computer science student interested in drug design. Whatever her passion, a Scholar for Tomorrow cares about the societal importance of her work.

Aesthetics in Society Fellows: The Science of Art

Photo by Karen Tam
2001-2002 Aesthetics in Society Fellows (left to right)
Front row: Brandye Peterson, Robert Vance (faculty leader), Kelley Sachs. Back row: Severn Eaton, Maureen O'Brien, Macalester Bell, Jason Gersh, Bethany Keenan. Lauren Ellis not pictured.

Severn Eaton exemplifies the characteristics of an Aesthetics in Society fellow. A studio artist whose interests lie in sculpture and installation art, Eaton offers a unique perspective as the scholars discuss how the humanities influence and are influenced by social forces.

“It just so happens,” Eaton said, “that some of my work deals with the effects of the living environment on people.”

Fellow Brandye Peterson, an occupational therapy student, says she appreciates hearing an artist’s views on how people interact with their environment. Peterson says occupational therapists care how individual patients spend their time. “We believe the arts are important,” she says. “Anything that leads to a healthy use of time is important.”

Every month the fellows, with fields as related as apples to oranges, find connecting strands among them. They are scholars of history, philosophy, music history, occupational therapy, dramatic art and art history.

Robert Vance, aesthetics advisor and a philosophy professor, arranges monthly gatherings for the scholars to meet and learn about artists of different stripes. The first featured Bob Gilgor, a physician turned photographer whose exhibit appeared at the Chapel Hill Museum.

Installation artist and environmentalist Bryant Holsenbreck talked to the group the next month about how she turns trash — like mail and bottle lids — into art.

Scholar Jason Gersh, who’s interested in teaching 16th Century English music, says Holsenbreck’s presentation was enlightening. “I found it interesting to see how objects are rejected by society and become useful to an artist,” Gersh said.

It is the students’ marvel and appreciation for diversity that gives the program its strength. “It’s like having a window into each other’s disciplines,” Peterson said.

Computational Sciences Fellows: The Art of Science

Like their counterparts in Aesthetics in Society, Computational Sciences scholars relish every opportunity to mingle with students of different fields. Luke Huan, for example, studies computer science and bioinformatics. Sagar Khare is in the school of pharmacy. Both of them, it turns out, are interested in drug design. “It’s the kind of work I’m interested in, so we can share information,” Huan says. “This interaction will be very useful to my research.”

For Computational Sciences Advisor and Physics Professor Hugon Karwowski, the program is more than a rigorous research experience. “The main goal is to broaden students’ horizons,” Karwowski said. To achieve that goal, Karwowski arranges activities that expose the students to some of the newest computer technology available. Activities have included a session with a computer visualization specialist (with the chance for scholars to test visualization equipment) and a trip to the North Carolina Supercomputer Center in Research Triangle Park.

Huan says the supercomputer lesson was particularly instructive for him since he will likely use similar equipment in his research. “My work will involve intensive computation,” Huan says. “Basically, I want the largest and the quickest machine.”

Brian Kirsch, a student in the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, says he may use the resources at the supercomputer center at some point in the future. But what’s exciting now, he says, is being exposed to “as many features of computational sciences as possible.”

Karwowski, too, stressed the fellowship’s ability to expose scholars to innovative ideas. He said he wants the scholars to be “intellectually involved and hear about something they would be unlikely to hear about otherwise.”

-Joshua Myerov

 

© 2002, The Graduate School, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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